Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Veronica Mars finally gets a pony...or at least a movie

If I had a TV channel all of my own, I could fill the programming schedule with shows I still wish were on. We'd be on the tenth season of 'Firefly', and Rory all of the presidential aides would be making googly eyes at Rory in the press corp on 'Gilmore Girls'. And 'Veronica Mars' would be snooping for secrets and crackin' wise.

Until one of my brilliant schemes becomes the next Post-It, however, I can't right the wrongs of network executives with my own funds alone. Which is why Kickstarter is such a wonderful thing. If you haven't already heard of Kickstarter, it essentially enables anyone and everyone to pitch in their own level of investment into any variety of projects to get them off the ground, from wacky inventions to debut albums from bands playing in their garage. It's a kind of grassroots entrepreneurship.

In the past, fans have tried (and sometimes succeeded) in saving their favorite shows for at least one more season through campaigns that involved flooding networks with e-mails, voicemails, sending them bottles of hot sauce, crates of peanuts, anything that might impress upon them the support for a show that extends beyond the Nielson ratings. But when you combine the enablement of Kickstarter with the fervor of fans, it's...well, it's pretty amazing.

Last month, the creator of 'Veronica Mars', Rob Thomas (not from Matchbox 20) launched a Kickstarter project for a movie to continue the adventures of my favorite persnickety PI. They were hoping to get $2 million at a bare minimum to get production going over the course of 30 days.

Oh, Rob...don't you trust your marshmallows?

It took 11 hours to get that money. Now, with just a few days left in the pledging period, they are closing in on $5 million. With that budget, maybe Neptune High will actually be on Neptune. Veronica Mars, investigating intergalactic infidelities? Who knows. Rob has completed the initial draft, but he's only revealed the final line of direction so far. Spaceships were not mentioned.

The reason I'm writing about this is because on top of all of the coolness that this whole thing embodies is the chillest cherry on top: Rob is an Austinite. And he's having an event to countdown to the end of the fundraising, all backers welcome. Even though he's been very modest in explaining that it's just going to be him, his laptop, and the documentary crew hanging out, people are falling all over themselves to be there. Even my epic levels of social hermit-dom can't justify not emerging from my shell and venturing out to celebrate.

If you want to be a part of the awesomeness, you've got until the end of Friday to become a backer, with as little as $1. And if you're in Austin and planning to attend, I suppose I'll see you there. Otherwise, I promise to come back with fun stories. Or at least, I'll try and make some up.